History

a Shifang temple

Ancient China

The area of present-day Shifang formed part of Western Qiang (西羌, Xīqiāng), one of the regions that appear in ancient Chinese records as the birthplace of the famed usurper Yu the Great. The local tourism board has pressed the claim that he was specifically born in Shifang,[4] but similar claims are made by Beichuan, Wenchuan, and Dujiangyan in Sichuan,[5] as well as many other places in other parts of China.

Modern China

Shifang was one of the most severely hit cities in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, with a death toll of 5924.[9] Many of those killed were children, with 13 school buildings totally collapsing in Hongbai, Yinghua, Luoshui, Jiandi, Bajiao, and other towns and dozens of other schools partially collapsing throughout the county. Altogether, 12 teachers and 550 students were killed.[10][11][12]

Economy

Prior to the 2008 earthquake, Shifang had a GDP of 12.7 billion RMB.[13] It was reckoned one of the "100 Small and Medium-Sized Chinese Cities Most Rewarding to Investment" (全国最具投资潜力中小城市百强)[14] and had been rated the second-best county for growth in Sichuan every year since 1995.[13]

Its status as the "Pearl of Western Sichuan" had been built on its natural resources and productions. It was called "Phosphorite City" (磷矿城) from its rich veins of phosphate rock and associated chemical industry[15] and the "Hometown of Chinese Mineral Water" (中国矿泉水之乡) from its natural springs.[16][17] For over 400 years, the Chengdu plain has been a center of China's tobacco cultivation,[18] with Shifang's produce reckoned among the best.[19] At a time when most of China took tobacco in the form of snuff, the people of Sichuan were rolling it into a form of cigar.[19] Shifang's were given as tribute to the Guangxu Emperor during the Qing and to Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders in the 1950s,[18] earning the town the nickname of the "Hometown of the Chinese Cigar" (中国雪茄之乡).[20]

In 2008, Beijing Municipality planned to coördinate with Shifang City during its construction of a 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) capital industry park at Luoshui (北京市对口支援什邡市).[21] The road which will link the Chengdu-Mianyang Expressway and Shifang City will be completed in 2008. In addition, a new Chengdu-Shifang-MianyangExpressway and the Chengdu-Lanzhou High-speed Railway, which will pass through Shifang, are scheduled to complete around 2011,and will make it possible to travel from Chengdu to Shifang in 30 minutes.[22] With the leadership of Chinese government and support of international community, the government of Shifang City plans to complete reconstruction until 2011, make GDP recover to same of 2007 until 2013, and make the city to be a modernized city until 2018.[23]

The cigar industry is undergoing a revival with an investment of €85 million by China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Corporation, the owner of Great Wall-brand cigars, in partnership with the Dutch cigar maker Agio, in a cigar complex that is expected to be finished by 2013 and will be capable of churning out 2 billion cigars a year.[18]

A $1.64 billion copper and molybdenum processing plant is planned by the HTC for the Shifang Economic Development Zone.[24] The project has become controversial, due to environmental reasons.[25] The project further provoked a demonstration of local residents demanding cancellation of the project on 2 July 2012. After violent clashes between the public and the police and nationwide campaigns on the Internet, the project was finally dropped.[26]